Back in January, we detailed how Pat Robertson used a segment of his 700 Club to defend Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo's efforts to remain in office in the face of near-unanimous international opinion that Gbagbo lost his election and should give up his post. Robertson said it's "not true" that Gbagbo is an "evil thug," adding, "He's a Christian, he's a nice person, and he's run a fairly clean operation in the Ivory Coast."

Robertson might want to reconsider his support of Gbagbo given a very ugly event this past weekend:

A video posted online documents in chilling, graphic detail the transformation Thursday of a peaceful demonstration in the Ivory Coast city of Abidjan to a slaughter by what appear to be forces loyal to self-proclaimed President Laurent Gbabgo.

U.S. officials said Friday that the attack left seven women dead, but Gbagbo rival Alassane Ouattara put the death toll at 12, including a child, with another 110 people wounded.

[...]

The video, about eight minutes, is posted on YouTube. In it, hundreds of people, most of them women dressed in brightly colored garb, are seen smiling, chanting, playing horns, blowing whistles and dancing. Many of them are carrying signs with slogans written in French that refer to Gbagbo as "assassin" and "robber of power." One of them holds a poster declaring Gbagbo's rival, former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara, as president. None of them appears to be carrying a weapon.

Dark clouds hang low.

But the chanting soon stops, replaced by an eerie quiet, as the hand-held camera turns away from the crowd and focuses on the approach of a convoy of three camouflage-painted armored vehicles, one of them bearing the word "Police."

Without any apparent warning, a volley of three bursts from a heavy-caliber gun pierces the quiet, followed by screams as the marchers, including whoever is holding the camera, run from the street, leaving behind pavement littered with flip-flops, clothing and tote bags.

Robertson's CBN News website, meanwhile, has been silent about this shooting. In fact, a search of CBN's website indicates that it has reported nothing at all about the Ivory Coast since January, when a blog post by CBN's Charles Lane defended the Gbagbo-controlled "constitutional council" that overturned election results to name Gbagbo the winner over Ouattara. Lane also conducted a fawning interview with Gbagbo in January that included such softball questions as, "It seems like you're very calm, you're not nervous, you aren't worried. What's the source of your strength?"

Meanwhile, the situation in the Ivory Coast continues to deteriorate. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced within the country, tens of thousands have fled to other countries as refugees, and the United Nations has authorized an increase in peacekeeping forces there.

In the aftermath of these shootings and the escalating unrest, does Robertson still think Gbagbo is a "Christian" and a "nice person" whose "operation" is "fairly clean"? It's time for him and CBN to break their silence.

Pat Robertson has, shall we say, a checkered record of involvement in Africa. In 2003, Robertson came to the defense of Liberian President Charles Taylor, claiming that then-President Bush was "undermining a Christian, Baptist president to bring in Muslim rebels" by asking him to leave office after being indicted for war crimes by a United Nations-backed tribunal. Taylor even testified during his war-crimes trial that a Robertson-owned company was allowed to explore for gold in Liberia and that Robertson later offered to lobby the Bush administration to support Taylor's government. (A Robertson spokesman denied any quid pro quo.)

Now, Robertson and his Christian Broadcasting Network news operation have taken a position sympathetic to another African leader, again citing the leader's Christianity as a reason.

The January 13 of The 700 Club aired a segment on an election controversy in the Ivory Coast involving current president Laurent Gbagbo, who is refusing to leave office despite having, most observers concur, lost an election to rival Alassane Ouattara. Robertson kicked off the segment by complaining that as he read "the American press and the international press, I have not found not one word spoken in favor" of Gbagbo, adding: "And everybody says this man is an evil thug who needs to go. That's not true. He's a Christian, he's a nice person, and he's run a fairly clean operation in the Ivory Coast." This was followed by a report from CBN correspondent Gary Lane that clearly cast Gbagbo in a favorable light: Lane showed a "praise and worship service" inside the presidential palace where Gbagbo "listened intently to the pastor's message, his Bible at his side."

After Lane's report, Robertson speculated that the U.S. is "trying to cozy up to the French, I guess, and do their bidding" by "meddling in the affairs of the Ivory Coast." Robertson also claimed that the United Nations is "controlled so much by Muslim countries" -- Ouattara is Muslim -- and then added: "Would it have been nice if Germany, France, and England came to the United States into the Bush-Gore deal and said, 'We're sorry. We don't acknowledge the fact that those hanging chads were valid, and we think that Gore is the president. And if George Bush doesn't step down, we're going to put sanctions against America'?"

Such a fawning portrait of Gbagbo obscures the facts behind the election controversy.

On his Christian Broadcasting Network show tonight, Pat Robertson saw fit to give advice to a woman who said her husband's "actions" are "starting to get to" her, fearing that he may soon start to cheat because he "loves to talk with other women he finds attractive." Robertson, whose views on marriage and women have been fairly well documented, replied: "Anne, first thing is you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and don't hassle him about it."

Seriously.

But wait, there's more. He also advised the woman that she needs to make sure "to not drive [her husband] away or start hassling and hounding on him" and added: "[M]ake yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let's go out here, let's go there, let's go to the other thing."

From tonight's edition of The 700 Club:

TERRY MEEUWSEN (co-host): Pat, this is from Anne who says, "My husband has always been a flirt and loves to talk with other women he finds attractive. He says he would never cheat on me but his actions are starting to get to me. What should I do?

ROBERTSON: Anne, first thing is you need to make yourself as attractive as possible and don't hassle him about it. And why is he doing this? Well, he's doing it because he wants affirmation that he is still a man, that he is attractive -- and he gets an affirmation of himself. That means he's got an inferiority complex that's coming out. And he's not gonna cheat on you. He's just playing.

But you need to not drive him away or start hassling and hounding on him, but make yourself as beautiful as you can, as fun as you can, and say let's go out here, let's go there, let's go to the other thing. So -- and Terry disagrees.

MEEUWSEN: That's a lot more grace than I do, Anne. Let me just say we'd be having a serious conversation.

ROBERTSON: Affirmation. Affirmation, dear heart.

This really shouldn't surprise anyone, considering Robertson has reportedly stated that once women get married -- as "painful" as it is "for the ladies to hear" -- "you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period." He has also claimed that "the feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians." Robertson has also reportedly written that "[w]omen should listen and learn quietly and submissively," and "I do not let women teach men or have authority over them."

Robertson made headlines in January for saying that Haitians had been hit with a major earthquake because they had "swor[n] a pact to the devil" to get "free from the French" and that "ever since, they have been cursed."

One day after a major earthquake in Haiti, Pat Robertson used his platform on The 700 Club to state that Haitians had "swor[n] a pact to the devil" to get "free from the French" and that "ever since, they have been cursed." Robertson continued:

ROBERTSON: Desperately poor. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It's cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, et cetera. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God. And out of this tragedy, I'm optimistic something good may come. But right now, we're helping the suffering people, and the suffering is unimaginable.

Robertson's comments followed a pattern in which he has assigned blame for tragedies and disasters.

Despite condemnation of his most recent outrageous remarks, Robertson chose not to address his comments about Haitians' "pact to the devil" on today's 700 Club, though he did say that "the hearts of many of us are grieved" by the earthquake there and that it is "a tragedy of major proportions."

After an earthquake devastated Haiti on January 12, Pat Robertson said on The 700 Club that Haitians had "swor[n] a pact to the devil" to get "free from the French" and that "ever since, they have been cursed." Robertson's comments follow a pattern in which he has assigned blame for tragedies and disasters, as well predicted them.